Doesn't ANYONE know HOW to count change back anymore?

[country lady]

In a word, "no," cashiers do not normally count out change. I use cash, too, and only an occasional older cashier at Walmart will count out the change. Apparently, people don't cook either because only the older women will bag all my cold or frozen food together. (We live quite a distance and use a cooler.) Counting the change twice also benefits the cashier's drawer accuracy. I began working at 14 1/2 at a big fruit and vegetable stand and we were taught to count change and never, never say, "is that all?" It was "is there anything else?"

I had an incident at Walmart a couple of years ago when the young man "slapped" my bills in my hand and closed his drawer. He was $10 short so he insisted that I wait until the next customer paid so he could open his drawer. Again the drawer was closed and he was rude when I told him if he didn't give me the $10 bill I would call a manager. The attitude at Walmart has changed, as well as the "buy American" policy. I shop elsewhere whenever possible. BTW, Walmart brought back the fabric section here. I said to the nice lady who used to work fabric, "I see Walmart changed its mind about fabric." She said, "No, customers changed their mind!"

Edited to add: I worked at a university and had a freshman who couldn't tell time except for digital. I thought she was kidding but she said her military family moved at the time her class was teaching time. Truly amazing! Learning the clock is not rocket science!!

 

[ChickenAlgebra]

Huh, I am kind of shocked that everyone is saying this is a new thing. I've had a young kid at TSC count my change back right - coins, bills, receipt - and had a nasty should retire woman throw my change at me.

 

[terrilhb]

I made my kids learn how to count back change before I would let them work. They thought I was crazy. They were like the register will tell us. I asked them what if it goes down? Well they learned. It really aggravates me when they can not count.

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
I think they do know how to count but they may be lazy about it because it's Mom!

I get some that do count and some that don't.

 

[BarefootMom]

Quote:
that is another pet peeve of mine too! I had a guy actually put my frozen peas with my BREAD!! MY BREAD! I couldn't believe. I just shook my head and said could please not put them together. And he said oh it won't matter, your bread won't get soggy. Um Yes it will, you see I live about 45 minutes from here. He just looked at me like I was crazy and said WHY? What a moron. Plus he was putting non food items with food items- like laundry detergent with produce!! I had never been so aggrevated in my life!!

It makes me sad that everyone is in too much of a hurry. Hurry to do what? Work your life away. I am sorry but when I go to the store, it is my time away from home and I like to enjoy it. Even if it is getting groceries. I try not to hurry through life. Sure we all have to make a living, but do you ever take time to just sit back and enjoy. And as I always say- Its the simple things in life that matters. I do actually sit in my rocking chair on the porch. Our pastor refrenced that on Sunday- you know our great grandparents worked HARD- harder than most work today-- especially the farmers- they would get up at dawn do chores, eat breakfast, do more chores, work the fields- take a break for lunch- go right back out and work more. Come in eat Supper and then spend time with the family. They worked hard for their living yet they still had time to sit on the porch in their chairs and watch the kids catch fireflys in the summer evenings. People didn't stay up until midnight and sleep till noon. Sure they may have not had the education that some of us have, but they payed their bills and were happy. Technology has ruined this world it always has. Look at the farmer: first he had a horse and a 1 bottom plow- so he probably only had about 20 acres or less. Then 2 and 4 bottom plows came out- he had to get another horse and more land to pay for the bigger plow. Then tractors came out- he had to get more land to pay for that. Then bigger tractors and bigger farming implements came out and he had to get even more land to pay for them...all along causing more and more work for the farmer and less time for his family. Isn't that the reason we are all so busy? We are working to pay for the things that are better that we want? I think I would be much happier if I could just live off the land and move away from people.

And maybe it is because I come from a small rural community and am expected to be treated with common courtesy the way most people around here do.

Oh and speaking of the girl that couldn't tell time- that is really sad. I have just started to go back to college and I ended up starting with the lowest math class just to refresh my memory before jumping into College Algebra--there were a few kids in there that couldn't grasp simple fractions like 1/4 + 1/4 = 1/2 !! They ended up dropping the course because of stuff like that. I don't know how they made it through High School! Much less elementary school!

 

[country lady]

Barefootmom, I wonder if employees are properly trained to count back the change. I try to always be polite because I know working with the public is not easy. Another annoyance with me is seeing a customer on her cell phone when her groceries are being rung up--IMO, it is rude. I consider grocery shopping a "business" trip since even though I am frugal, I spend thousands of dollars on food, etc. every year. I do find mistakes rung up, especially on mark-downs in the fruit/vegetable area.

Your comment on your math class does not surprise me. What students don't know entering college is another story. Many do not know history. I can't count the times I've heard "well, I wasn't born then." In fact, I heard two women journalists say that in a kidding way on TV . I guess history begins the moment we are born.

Sorry to be off subject.

Edited to add: What IS being taught today if time with a clock, cursive writing, math, and history aren't taught? I would blame the administrators first because teachers are often told what to teach.

 

[Spookwriter]

Yes, it amazes me how many people have poor math skills.
But lets be honest: generally, they aren't always to swift in
some other subjects either.

I remember teaching my daughter to count. Sure, it was taught
at school. But that didn't stop me from helping her.

Don't ask me to count rubles or yens or something like that. But
the money we use? Yes, people should be able to count.

And I automatically count my change back in my head.

Simple math.

 

[ChooksinChoppers]

And after reading all this I realised I need to be more carefull about the change I get being accurate. Must have gotten lazy or too trusting in my

 

[GableBabble]

My kids learned to count change in school. I also make them pay for their own stuff at stores. They must count it out to the cashier, which pisses everyone in line (including the cashier) off but I do not give a rats buthole. I am trying to teach my kids stuff they will need to use when I change the locks on their 18th birthdays...

We have a few family owned stores really close to the farm. One is a wholesale food / grocery store. One is just a gas station like store that also serves food and other items. I would rather shop at both of those then Walmart b/c of the treatment I get at the small stores. It also happens to be a plus that the small family grocery store is next to the feed store and I can just skip from one door to the next door

 

[woodmort]

Quote:
Why? Seems to me there are other, more important, things that should be taught other than an outdated skill like this--might just as well teach kids how to rotary dial a phone. As much as those of us that learned to do this--and I was one--think this is a useful skill, this kind of thing is not necessary for the holding of even the lowest skilled job. I suspect that it won't be long before a cash register/computer will just tell the operator what coins/bills to hand in change and the number of each.

BTW, I learned a lot of mathematical "tricks"in my youth that, while they can make arithmetic easy, aren't nearly as fast or accurate as a little $3 handheld calculator.